Legg Mason will buy back KKR stake, take charge

May 16 (Reuters) - Legg Mason Inc said it plans to buy back a stake in the company held by private equity firm KKR & Co LP and take a charge.

KKR had purchased $1.25 billion in convertible senior notes in the Baltimore asset manager in 2008. Legg Mason said on Wednesday it will repurchase the senior notes and expects to take a non-cash charge of between $70 million and $80 million in its fiscal first quarter due to the early extinguishment of the notes.